A Witch A Love A Link A Scar
by another anathema
Summary: Willow almost kills Xander at the end of season six while he is trying to stop her from ending the world. She saves him, but only by transfering all of her stolen dark magick into him. After a waking up at the coven, Willow finds herself , Xander, and Spi


A Witch, A Love, A Link, A Scar  
by Faith  
  
Chapter 1:  
The End of the Beginning  
  
"Out of my way, Xander!"  
"I love you, Willow."  
"Stop it! Get out of the way!" Despite the fact that her best friend was in the way, Willow sent the jet of majick toward the statue. It didn't seem to be hurting him.  
"I love you." Willow kept the jet of light going and Xander finally began to show signs of weakening.  
"I have to make the pain stop! Get out of my way!"  
"I love you."  
"No! You don't!"  
"I love you..." Xander slumped to the ground, and somewhere deep down inside of her, Willow felt the life of her best friend slip away. Something inside of her snapped. The connection between Willow and the statue flickered out. "Xander!" The wicca ran as fast as she could to Xander's lifeless body. "I have to save him.... Goddess I have all the power in the world, there has to be a way I can....power...." Willow summed up every bit of stolen magick inside her and poured it into Xander, praying that something in it would make him come back to life. In a desperate effort, she even transferred some of her own. Then everything faded and became darkness.  
  
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^  
  
"Are they going to make it, Giles? Both of them?"  
"It looks like Willow will definetly make it, though we have no idea what mental damage she may have suffered. The power transfer could have done god knows what to her mind."  
"And.... Xander? Xander's going to be fine, isn't he? I mean, once you take the powers back he'll be back to normal, right?"  
"I don't know, Buffy. We aren't exactly sure how Willow managed to give Xander all of this magick without killing him. He has never had any previous contacts with magick. We can't take the power from him without knowing what link he has to it. If...."  
"If what, Giles? This is not the time to be hiding things from me."  
"Buffy, I..."  
"Tell me."  
"Buffy, the women here at the coven have reason to believe that Xander was on the verge of death when Willow fed the magick into him. If this is the case, Xander's life is linked to the magick and if we strip him of it he will die."  
"But, c-can he live with all this power in him? Will he be all evil like Willow? Will Willow still be evil? Oh Giles, I don't think I can take this."  
"I can't answer any of your questions now, though I wish more than anything that I could."  
"I just want my friends back. I miss them so much." Tears began to leak from Buffy's eyes and she put her head in her hands. Giles moved over to where Buffy was standing beside an unconcious Willow's bed and put his arm around her shoulders.  
"I miss them too, Buffy, we all do." Suddenly, the pair heard a sharp intake of breath followed by rapid coughing.  
"Willow!" Buffy cried. Then she turned her gaze to Giles. "What should I do?"  
"Go get Elaina and Nora, quickly." Giles said with urgency clear in the tone of his voice. Buffy sped off with all the speed of a slayer and in a matter of moments returned with both witches zooming in behind her.  
"She's regaining conciousness." Nora said. "Buffy, Mr. Giles, I think you should leave. Willow may be a bit disoriented at first and I don't know what she might do."  
"But.." Buffy started to protest.  
"Buffy," Nora said firmly, looking the slayer in the eye, "If we are going to make Willow better I can't have you in here. I will call for you as soon as is possible."  
"Come on," Giles whispered in Buffy's ear and took hold of her arm to guide her out of the room. Just as they made it through the doorway, Buffy heard Willow scream. She started to whirl around, but Giles held tight to her arm. "There isn't anything you can do for her right now. Let's go try and get some rest, as futile an effort it may turn out to be."  
  
"Willow, can you hear me?" Elaina said gently, looking down upon the wiccan. Willow started to struggle violently against the bonds they had placed around her. "Xander!" she screamed over and over.  
"He's here, Willow, he's right here. You need to calm down. We're trying to help you. If you don't calm down you'll hurt yourself."  
"I-I hurt him.... I hurt him.... I have to make him okay again...."  
"Just breath, Willow, breath." Slowly, Willow managed to calm down. She relaxed her body and the coven witches removed the bonds they had around her. Willow instinctively attempted to sit up, but found that she didn't have the strength, and sank back into the bed.  
"You are still weak. It took some bit of energy to transfer all of that power."  
"I'm... me again." Willow stated simply, staring at a lock of her hair, which at her return to conciousness had turned back to its native red shade.  
"Yes," Nora replied, "We were hoping that because the powers you stole were no longer in you, you would be reverted back to your normal self. Obviously, our calculations turned out to be correct."  
"I am amazed," Elaina began, "to see that you seem to have suffered no serious lasting damages. How do you feel?"  
"Tired," Willow admitted truthfully, "and terrified. Who are you? Where's Xander? Is he going to be okay?"  
"We are witches of a coven. You are in our home, in England. Xander is in the room right next to this one. We have no idea if Xander is going to be okay, Willow, though we have people monitoring him constanly and we are doing everything we can to bring him back to conciousness. You yourself have been unconcious for a fortnight now, and we were unsure at first if you were going to wake."  
"W-what happened? I can't....remember...."  
"I think that the answer to that question will come after you have gotten some rest and met with your friends. We want to make sure that you are in a completely stable state. We have no idea what the side effects of your waking might be."  
"My friends are here?" Willow interjected excitedly.  
"Yes, and you can see them shortly. Right now I just want to check some things. Lie back and try to relax. You won't feel a thing." Willow wanted to protest, to insist that she be able to see her friends right away, but the thought of just lying in peace for a while was very inviting to her rapidly tiring body.  
  
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^  
  
"Willow? Willow, it's me, it's Buffy." Willow's gaze quickly fell upon her other best friend, who was staring at her with a worried look.  
"Buffy! Buffy, you don't know how glad I am to see you."  
"Only about as half as glad as I am to see you awake." Suddenly, everything that she had done to Buffy and all of her friends came flooding back upon Willow. She looked around at Buffy, Giles, Anya, Dawnie, and even Spike, all of whom were standing around her bed.  
"You guys, I, I'm so... I can't even begin to apologize. I just-"  
"Don't worry about it, Wills." Buffy said quickly. "You were grieving. And I think we all know what can happen to decision making when one is grieving. I don't know if you remember, but all of us have done some weird things in the face of grief. You just... kinda... took yours to a slightly bigger level."  
"Yeah, only slightly bigger." Willow spat out sarcastically.  
"Well, I brought mom back as a.. well, we aren't sure what I brought her back as but it was pretty stupid of me." Dawn piped up quickly.  
"I attempted to kill a vampire that I had absolutely no chance against when Jenny was killed." Giles added.  
"And how could we all forget the time I ran away after I killed Angel? Talk about rash actions." Buffy supplied.  
Dawn nudged Anya with her elbow, "Ow!" she exclaimed, "Oh...all right. I mean, I did become a vengence demon again after Xander left me at the alter. There, are you happy?" she snapped at Dawn. The entire group turned to face Spike.  
"What? I haven't ever lost my marbles 'cause someone I loved left me or died!"  
"Sure, Spike. You just go on believing that." Buffy quipped.  
"The point is," Dawn said loudly, cutting off any chance of argument. "We all do wonky things when people leave us."  
"That doesn't make me feel any better, sorry." Willow said forlornly.  
"I didn't expect it would." Giles said gently, "You can not forgive yourself with just a few words. It will take time, Willow."  
"Yeah...."  
  
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^  
Chapter 2: The Zeppo Has Been Lost  
  
Willow sat in Xander's room, his hand in hers, and she felt the magicks pulsating through her every few seconds. "It's like the magick is just, floating out of him." she said to Nora, who was standing near the doorway in silent vigil.  
"It is, Willow. He doesn't have control over the magicks inside of him." Nora replied in her soft, calm voice.  
"Because he's unconcious?"  
"I do not know. I think that he might not have control of the power even if he does wake up."  
"Which means, what, exactly?" Willow asked, frightened and turning pale.  
"Again, I am sorry, but I do not know." Nora stated, "There is much that we can not discern until Xander regains conciousness."  
"Oh." Willow whispered, and then lapsed into silent prayers for her friend.  
  
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^  
  
The next day, Willow awoke to hysterical yells from the bed near her, and as she stood she was promptly hit with a jet of red light that sent her flying the distance of the room. "Xander!" she screamed, pulling herself up with some difficulty. The boy made no sign of hearing her. He just kept screaming and struggling. More jets of light rushed toward Willow and the wicca fell to the floor to avoid them. Momentarily Nora, Elaina, and a few other coven witches followed. They hurriedly tried to contain Xander's power, tried to find some way to calm him, but couldn't. One by one they too were hit with streams of magick and sent flying or slumped to the floor. Finally only Nora was left standing. Xander broke his bonds and stood to face her, his eyes completely massed with black. As Xander stared in wonder at what he had become, Nora yelled at the top of her voice, "Albus! We need you!" There was a flash of light that blinded the entire room, and suddenly there was a very old man in dark green robes standing in the middle of the mass confusion. At that same moment Buffy, Spike, and Giles ran into the room, adding to the chaos. Sighing and waving what looked to Willow like a wand, Albus Dumbledore froze everyone in the room exept himself and Nora. "What do you need?" he said quickly, surveying the situation around them.  
"We can not stop him." Nora stated, still panting, "We need your help; you are the only one we know that has ever dealt with power like Xander's."  
"Ah," Dumbledore said, stroking his beard in deep thought. "Yes, it is all coming together for me now."  
"What is, Albus?"  
"Just some signs that I have been reading over the past few months, Nora. Things I have been hearing from trusted sources."  
"Trusted sources... what are you talking about, Albus?"  
"There has recently been a lot of buzz concerning one of the prophecies at the ministry." Dumbledore said absently, still obviously deep in thought, "The vampire... the one he will desire... the one with the power... yes. Yes, this is most definetly all coming together for me. I know what I have to do."  
"What are you going to do?" Nora asked worriedly, trying hard to keep up.  
"I'm taking them to Hogwarts with me." Dumbledore stated simply. "Xander," he said, pointing at the boy's frozen figure, "That young woman," he pointed to Willow, "And the vampire." He finished.  
"Albus, are you sure? I can understand you taking Xander, and even Willow, but Spike?"  
"Yes, Nora, I am positive. Spike has some, umm, family issues to deal with. Please tell their friends that they are as safe as I can make them and that they will be returning as soon as possible."  
"The slayer won't take it well. Xander and Willow are her best friends."  
"She will have to cope for the situation for now. This is extremely important. Also, tell them that their friends will be in touch. Goodbye, Nora."  
"I can not begin to thank you for helping us again, Albus."  
"Anytime, Nora. It is always a joy to see you, no matter what the circumstances." With another wave of his wand, Dumbledore, Willow, Xander, and Spike vanished and the scene once again came to life. 


End file.
